BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s financial regulators on Sunday urged Ant Group to draft a concrete plan as soon as possible to meet regulatory requirements and fully understand how serious the “fix” work it needs to be to carry out.
The central bank, banks, securities and exchange regulators urged Ant to correct illegal financial activities, including in its credit, insurance and wealth management companies, and to regulate its credit rating activities to protect personal information, People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Deputy Governor Pan Gongsheng said a day after meeting with representatives of the fintech group.
Ant said in a statement it would create a “rectification” working group and fully implement the legal requirements.
The state-backed Economic Daily said in a commentary that Ant must serve people’s needs and economic development, through effective corporate responsibility.
Chinese regulators abruptly suspended Ant’s planned $ 37 billion IPO last month, which was on track to become the world’s largest, just two days before its shares would start trading in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
On Thursday, authorities said they had launched an antitrust investigation into parent company Alibaba Group and would call Ant, the latest blow to billionaire Jack Ma’s e-commerce and fintech empire.
The new requirements of the PBOC, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission and State Administration of Foreign Exchange also require Ant to be more transparent about its third-party payment transactions and not to engage in unfair competition, and its financial intent. holding companies comply with the law to ensure capital adequacy, Pan said.
China’s annual Central Economic Work Conference, a gathering of top leaders and policymakers to chart the course of the economy in 2021, this month pledged to strengthen anti-monopoly efforts and curb “disorderly capital expansion.”
Pan said Ant should strengthen its risk management and maintain the continuity of its services and normal business operations.
At the meeting, regulators pointed to Ant’s problems, including poor corporate governance, opposing regulatory demands, illegal arbitrary regulation, using its market advantage to express competitors and harming consumers’ legal interests, he said.
Reporting by Stella Qiu, Cheng Leng, Yilei Sun and Ryan Woo; Editing by William Mallard